Juuzou sat down and pulled out a piece of fresh parchment from his desk, clicking the cabinet drawer shut tight after. He had special secret items in there that he didn't want anybody to see (mostly sweets). Kanji should have been easy for him, seeing as he graduated from the junior Academy and all, but his letters still mostly consisted of hiragana. And pictures.

Art was a certain form of self expression for Juuzou, and since Emiko loved his art (even though most of them found their way into her recycling bin due to 'graphic' content), he was proud to keep sending her more. Since Shinohara had kept him too busy over the last couple of weeks getting ready and preparing for the big Aogiri bust in the 11th ward, now that it was over he had to wrack his brain to remember the characters for the words he wanted to tell her.

After a few sentences of a sloppy jumble of lines scribbled over the paper, he muttered, "Screw it," and decided to draw his story out in comic strip form instead, involving an exploding motorcycle, and Maude's face near bursting with rage during the strict talking-to he received afterwards.

Since Juuzou didn't really know how to use a cellphone (nor really care for one) he took Shinohara's advice and decided to start writing Emiko letters whenever he could remember. Sometimes they would be numerous pages long, filled with comics, pictures and a few random comments of the things he ate that day. On those occasions, he would have a hard time shoving all the papers into those little CCG envelopes he stole from the secretary at the front desk. At other times, his letters would be a page or less.

He wouldn't always be consistent with how often he sent them out, but made sure to push one in the mail at least every month. He enjoyed getting her letters back as well. Sometimes her letters would come with stickers or her own little (less than impressive) doodles. Those were his favorites, because he could then give her tips and pointers - something he thought she desperately needed - and he enjoyed seeing her (slight) improvement over time.

After Juuzou had completed outlining the details on one comic box of a half-eaten Jason in the middle of the blood-stained, checkered torture room, he ran off to go deliver it down stairs to his post box. Shinohara would probably yell at him if he were caught using the work postbox for personal letters, but Juuzou figured he never received any letters in it anyway.

After shoving the tightly packed envelope into the slot, and nearing the door to go back to his office to maybe sneak a cookie or two, something caught his attention. He really shouldn't have been surprised to see a letter waiting for him in his delivery slot. The main branch CCG officers hadn't been in the 20th ward for nearly two weeks after all.

Making his way over towards the delivery boxes, Juuzou eagerly picked up his letter and tore it open.

Opposite of his own letters, Emiko was always very consistent with hers. She always sent one out the day after she received one from him, and they were always exactly two pages long. That's why her letter came as a surprise - because it came without warning - and it was also barely a page long.

After the (boring) opening paragraph she usually writes that he normally skips over, it read:

So, you are probably wondering why I'm sending you an extra letter this week Juuzou-kun. Rest assured, it's great news! You know that guy that I told you about in previous letters, they one I was seeing for a while? Rank 1 Akihiko? Well... he just asked me to marry him last night! I'll tell you all the details in the next letter, but I was just so excited I couldn't wait to tell you. The wedding date will most likely be in May or June.. I hope you can make it, we'll be sending out invitations soon. Anyway, bye for now, until my next letter.

With all my love,

Emiko Koen

Suzuya read that one paragraph over and over again, even checking the first opening paragraph to see if he missed something. Emiko was getting… married?

He should probably be happy for her. Or at least neutral on the matter, right? Then why did he feel everything but those things?

"Oh, Juuzou! There you are," said Shinohara, stepping into the CCG post box room at that precise moment, as if on cue. They had gotten back from the 11th ward just a few days ago and there was still a lot of work to do. Juuzou had been hiding from him for the past couple hours, no doubt slacking off again. "Did you get another letter from Emiko?" he asked, after Juuzou was just standing motionless in front of the paper in his hands for a while, eyes glued to the words there.

"Yeah."

"...Well, what does it say?" Shinohara, like Juuzou, was also very attuned to Emiko's mailing patterns (seriously, everything that girl did was patterned and organized), and he was curious as to why she had sent out an extra one.

"..."

"Well? Spit it out."

"She's…." Juuzou began, trying to remember the correct word for it, and tore his eyes away from the page long enough to look at his superior. "Engaged."

"Oh..." he responded quietly, wondering what in the world the blonde could be thinking about in light of this news. "Well… that's... exciting, right? Weddings are always fun," he offered. To Shinohara's delight, Suzuya instantly put on a large smile, seeming to forget whatever he was wrestling over in his mind just moments before.

"You're right! I remember you and your wife's wedding. There was lots of cake, wasn't there? And we'll be able to see Emi-chan again, too."

"That's the spirit," Shinohara said, giving his subordinate a reassuring pat on the back with one of his large hands. "How about this? Before we get to cracking on that paperwork, let's go get some lunch. My treat. We can even call up Emiko so we can wish her much happiness."

Two Months Later

"Dear Emi-chan,

Shinohara-san and I are so very much excited for you. You have your cake all picked out and the baker knows to bring it to your WEH-DING right? And you'll have other sweets out too, right? Like at Shinohara's?

Oh that's right, Shinohara and I visited a shrine today to pray for you and your FEE-HAN-SEH. I sent up an extra prayer that your cake will turn out perfectly! I couldn't imagine what a WUH-DENG would be like if the cake turned out wrong… The whole day would just be ruined.

-Juuzou took a break here to draw a picture of what he thought the perfect wedding cake should look like. -

Oh, and guess WHAT? I'm getting PRO-MOE-TUD to Rank 2! You know what that means? It means my new quinque will be coming soon! Well, remember when I told you about Jason? They are in the PRAW-CESS of making it right now. I'll draw a picture of what I think it'll look like -

...

- Anyway, I'll draw you a more detailed one once I get to see it. The PRO-MOE-SHE-UN ceremony will be just a month after your WEH-DUN, so you'll have to make sure you aren't doing anything then so you can come see me. I guess you can bring Hakifujito... or whatever... too if you want. The picture on the next page is what I'll look like getting my PRO-MOE-SHE-UN.

I'll see you next month, ok?

BYE

Dear Juuzou,

Thank you so much for your letter. It was great to finally hear back from you after - Juuzou skipped the rest of this paragraph-

I am so excited to hear about your promotion! I told my fiance about it and we both wish you the best, and will most definitely make it to your promotion ceremony. I'm excited also to hear news about your quinque. You've earned it all!

I'm sorry that this letter is a bit short, but with it being so close till the wedding, coupled with work and the recent Aogiri raid, I've been terribly busy. Maybe choosing a wedding date so soon was a bad idea… But when you know, you know, right? Not to mention that everything is all arranged and ready to go! Akihiko and I have already taste tested and picked out the cake, so don't worry about that. You'll be happy to hear that Tsukiko is also going to bring some home made daifuku!

Thank you so much again for your letter, for praying for Akihiko and I, and for your attached pictures! I enjoyed them as always. As my little treat I enclosed a *photograph* of the cake we decided on. Let me know what you think!

I would also like to say thank you very much for going to the store with Shinohara-san to pick up the suits last week. I know they aren't really your thing, but I appreciate that you are willing to wear one for the day. You are a true friend!

Best regards,

Koen Emiko

Sorry it's been so long everybody! I haven't died, haha, just busy with school, exams and the holidays. But I can finally relax a little and enjoy my break, and begin updating more frequently again. So here is a belated Christmas present! I thought I'd update this story first since it seems to be the most popular, wow. Thanks for all the support and reviews guys! I really appreciate them.

Note: I noticed that in previous chapters I said Juuzou and Shinohara were investigating the "Gourmet", but in fact, are actually investigating the "Binge Eater". I'll go back and fix that eventually, haha, oops.

I hope you all liked this chapter! The next chapter will be the wedding, and I'll bring in Amon, Akira, Takizawa and a *surprise guest* as well. If you think anyone else should be a guest to the wedding as well just let me know in the comments section and I'll have them show up too.